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BU Student Critically Hurt In New Zealand Crash Speaks For First Time

BOSTON (CBS) - A Boston University student from Salisbury is now awake and talking, more than two weeks after she was critically injured in a crash that claimed the lives of three classmates.

Meg Theriault, 21, was transported to a ward and is now listed in stable condition, according to Waikato Hospital.

On Wednesday, Theriault told a nurse "I want my mommy" and later told a staff member "Good morning." Even later, she told her father that she loved him. Her parents flew to New Zealand soon after the crash to be with their daughter.

"This is so heartening," said Deb Theriault, Meg's mom. "There is still a long journey ahead but today is one of those days we can look back on as being significant."

Theriault, a business management student at BU, suffered a serious head injury, a broken right arm and grazing to her body in the crash.

Three students, Daniela Lekhno, Roch Jauberty, and Austin Brashears, were killed in the crash. Five others, including Theriault, were injured.

BU student Stephen Houseman, 20, was charged with three counts of careless driving causing death and four counts of careless driving causing injury after the crash.

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